Funding has been approved for Perth’s biggest Christmas party, amid fears spending could be spiralling “out of control”.
The city’s annual switch-on ceremony has been awarded more than £50,000 of council common goods cash, although the total cost of the four-month Winter Festival is likely to run into six figures.
Details of how much will be spent on main stage acts for this year’s event have not been released. Last year, £34,200 was spent on stars including Boney M and Peter Andre.
Perth and Kinross Council said the 2014 show brought more than 90,000 people into the city centre and made around £1.9 million for the local economy.
Councillors have approved £39,000 for a parade, street entertainment, three stages, toilets and stewarding, among other things, for the switch-on event on Saturday November 21.
The common good committee also approved a further £10,000 to continue the celebrations into the following day. An extra £2,750 will be spent this year on 26 large wreaths which will be hung from lamp-posts around the High Street area, three 25ft Christmas trees and 10 smaller ones.
The committee heard concerns that funding for the seasonal show is putting strain on the common good budget.
Perth city north councillor John Flynn said: “It was just a few years back when money from the common good fund was used to provide the Christmas lights and a crche. Now it seems, to me, to be getting out of control, with the common good fund being asked to pay more and more and more.
“We are now in a deficit which is going to hamper future good causes.”
Councillor David Doogan said: “I have always been very supportive of this event but as our ambitions grow we do need to be mindful about the burden we are prepared to accept.
“We need to make sure that this year’s event is even more successful than previous years.”
A survey of businesses was carried out after last year’s Winter Festival. Of the 759 traders who were given questionnaires, only 79 filled them out and handed them back.
Of those, just over a third said the event had a positive effect on their business, while 59.5% said that the festival only had a neutral impact.
The remaining 5.1% said the events had a negative effect on business.
This year, reindeers, huskies and other animals will be moved to George Street to address complaints from traders who said attractions had actually taken away customers from streets on the edge of the festival zone.
A Christmas market, last year branded a fiasco, has been scrapped. Talks are ongoing to secure acts to perform at this year’s switch-on ceremony.